Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Buys 52,800 Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,031,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 52,800 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $36,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VIRT. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $760,000. Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its position in Virtu Financial by 66.6% during the 4th quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 23,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $843,000 after purchasing an additional 9,448 shares during the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC bought a new stake in Virtu Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,871,000. O Neil Global Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 72.3% in the fourth quarter. O Neil Global Advisors Inc. now owns 29,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 12,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. raised its holdings in Virtu Financial by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 13,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Virtu Financial Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $35.10 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.01 and a twelve month high of $41.38. The company has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average is $37.11 and its 200 day moving average is $34.36.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.32. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 27.39% and a net margin of 9.61%. Research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on VIRT. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virtu Financial

In other news, EVP Stephen Cavoli sold 34,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total value of $1,253,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,703 shares in the company, valued at $7,070,006.64. This represents a 15.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Brett Fairclough sold 72,967 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total transaction of $2,688,104.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,343,193.16. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,967 shares of company stock worth $5,213,964 in the last three months. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc operates as a financial services company in the United States, Asia Pacific, Canada, EMEA, Ireland, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Market Making and Execution Services. Its product includes offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, capital markets, and multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology.